More rain possible after system dumps 7 inches on Rock Hill

Emergency responders rescued nearly a dozen people from homes and cars after a stalled storm system pounded Rock Hill with as much as 7 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday.

The Rock Hill Fire Department received 10 calls to assist people from flooded vehicles Saturday night and Sunday morning, Deputy Chief Mark Simmons said. Several homes in the College Downs neighborhood had flood damage, and one person had to be rescued from a home on Kings Row Drive.

Rock Hill Police received many calls related to the storms Saturday and Sunday, Capt. Mark Bollinger said. They had reports of flooding in multiple locations Saturday night, including Dave Lyle Boulevard and Anderson Road, Cherry Road and Camden Avenue, and Saluda Road and Heyward Street. Some areas remained blocked off Sunday.

The heavy rainfall and flooding resulted from a stalled front in the area, according to Frank Alzheimer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia.

“Rock Hill is pretty much the bull’s eye of the heaviest rain of this event,” Alzheimer said. “The thunderstorms that have developed have just kept moving along the front over the same locations. We’ve had a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, and that means these thunderstorms are efficient at producing heavy rains.”

Alzheimer said the rainfall tapered off in Chester and Lancaster counties, which saw about 3 inches and 5.5 inches of rain, respectively. Indian Land recorded 4.5 inches of rainfall by Sunday afternoon.

No injuries have been reported due to the weather and flooding, according to Chuck Haynes, director of York County Emergency Management. He added that the majority of the flooding was along the I-77 corridor.

The intersection of Dave Lyle Boulevard and Tinsley Way was blocked off Saturday night due to flooding. Bollinger said one motorist drove around the police barricade in an attempt to drive through the flood waters, but the vehicle became stuck in the waters. An officer had to pull the driver to safety, Bollinger said. That intersection had reopened early Sunday afternoon.

“If you see a police car block traffic, if you see barricades – even if you live in that neighborhood – don’t go around,” Bollinger said. “It’s there for public safety.”

At least one road in Rock Hill was heavily damaged by the waters. A creek that swelled up to the roadway washed away part of Runningbrook Lane, which is now blocked off with police barricades.

Jeff Giles lives nearby and was examining the damaged roadway with his kids Sunday. He said the creek that washed the roadway rarely gets above ankle-deep.

“It’s pretty scary because I kind of wonder if this was something that happened just last night or if this is something that’s been going on,” he said. “I drive over this all the time.”

Police were reopening the roadways that were flooded as the waters receded. At other barricades that weren’t manned by officers, such as the intersection of Red River Road and Kenneth Drive, motorists drove around the barricade and through the flood waters.

Gary O’Hare owns Red River Mobile Home Park and was checking on his tenants Sunday. In nine years of owning the park, he says, the creek that runs along Kenneth Drive has never been as high as it was Sunday. He expressed concern over the water gushing from manhole covers at the nearby water treatment plant and into the overflowing creek, which was pooling near his tenants’ homes.

“My concern is what’s coming up?” he said. “What’s coming up through those manhole covers? Is it sewage?”

Less than two miles away at Cushendall Commons just off Dave Lyle Boulevard, several first-floor residents in a building next to the complex’s swimming pool had standing water in their homes after the pool apparently overflowed.

The multiple heavy-duty fans drying out 72-year-old Minnie Nicholson’s apartment made her home feel and sound like a wind tunnel.

“I heard the rain beating against the walls, I thought it was the rain,” Nicholson said of when the water started flowing into her home. She uses a cane to walk but says she made her way through her home and into the flooded breezeway.

“Fortunately the Lord was with me and I did not fall,” she said.

David and Christa Guyger live across the breezeway and said they noticed water on the kitchen floor when they went to check on commotion in the breezeway.

“We open the door and it’s just like ‘Whoosh,’” David Guyger said. “Water flowing everywhere.”

The skies had cleared and the sun was out Sunday afternoon, but forecasters said more rain is likely on the way.

The National Weather Service predicted a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms for Rock Hill Sunday night, decreasing to 30 percent Monday morning. Monday will bring a 60 percent chance of rain, with a 50 percent chance on Tuesday.

Doug Outlaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greenville, said rain chances will be down to 20 percent late in the week, with high temperatures cooling down to the low 70s by Friday.

After the Rock Hill area, the next highest amount of rainfall in the state from the weekend storms was southwest of Greenville, which received 2.9 inches, Outlaw said, calling the event that drenched Rock Hill “incredible.”

“It kept forming one after another and going across the same area (Saturday) night, resulting in water rescues and numerous reports of road flooding,” he said.

Haynes said emergency officials will continue to keep an eye on the forecast and the flood conditions. His concern going forward is the additional stress the continued rainfall would place on storm water removal systems that already have been pushed to their limits.

“The amount of rainfall we’re getting within a short period of time is more volume than the storm water system can pull off the roads,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of rain and there’s nowhere for the water to go. Any rainfall we get is going to compound the situation.”

This story was originally published May 1, 2016 at 12:57 PM with the headline "More rain possible after system dumps 7 inches on Rock Hill."